See These Foreign Films & Impress Your Friends

It used to be that you'd have to schlep out to an actual place to rent VHS tapes, LaserDiscs, and DVDs. And, even then, it wasn't like Blockbuster was stocking the best of Kurosawa. Nope, if you wanted to see foreign films, you had to work for it!

Well, now you can stream these films from home, at any time of the day or night. Sure, we've lost the joy of browsing the shelves, knowing that whatever movie you chose was about to become the only option for the night, and we no longer have to be sneered at by snobby video store clerks who are totally judging you for renting Glitter again. But, now you don't even have to put on pants to watch a foreign film, and that's really the most important thing. Not putting on pants.

The best and brightest foreign films are mostly kept under lock and key by Criterion — you can rent their highfalutin flicks via iTunes or Hulu — but Netflix has a good variety of older classics and newer, buzzy titles. You can find some real gems on Netflix, and once you get the taste of a certain director, you can start searching for more of their works.